Phoenixville emergency agency prepares area for #Snowpocalypse

Kristen Burlington cleans snow from her car after making a last-minute stop at the Giant grocery store in West Pottsgrove. Snow was quickly covering the ground Thursday evening.
Photo by John Strickler The Mercury

PHOENIXVILLE — With heavy snow predicted for the area, one local emergency agency’s social media presence meters its tips, warnings and forecasts with some self-deprecating humor and spot-on ribbing of the panic of others the second a snow flake touches the ground.

“Well, well. It looks like NWS Mount Holly has officially jumped on board with the Eastern PA Weather Authority because we just got an advisory for — wait for it... waaaait for it... 8-10 inches of SNOWMG!” reads a Jan. 1 post from the Phoenixville Office of Emergency Management Facebook Page. “We’ve officially unchained the intern and sent him home (Happy New Year, dude, don’t get used to it) because it looks like this is actually happening. In other news, your favorite OEM (that’s us, by the way) will be opening a road-side stand tomorrow, Panic Shop Till You Drop LLC, where we’ll be selling bread, eggs, milk and that magical fairy glitter we mentioned during a snow forecast last year. #MakinMoney.”

That’s just a taste of the agency’s page which has garnered 1,213 likes and active conversation with the residents it serves in Phoenixville and East Pikeland.

“Heads up! Phoenixville Area School District has canceled all after school activities today ahead of impending doom (!!!),” read a post from the afternoon of Jan. 2 before snow began falling in the area. “You may return to your regularly-scheduled programs.”

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Replying to the post, a Facebook user asked if schools were also closed Friday.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let’s settle down with this no-school thing!” the emergency management page replied. “Seriously, no idea, but we’ll update as soon as we know.”

Many similar posts can be found throughout the page for the agency tasked with “plan(ning) and prepar(ing) for emergencies,” as well as “educat(ing) the public about preparedness,” and coordinating emergency responses and sending out public information in emergency situations,” according to the Facebook profile.

Mixed in among the genuinely funny posts are the regular, useful information one would expect to find on any similar organization.

“Oh, hello, subzero temperatures! It’s gon’ be coooold. As in ‘we’ve started stockpiling weapons-grade hot chocolate’ cold,” a post from the morning of Jan. 2 read. “Winds will make the already-freezing temps feel like it’s subzero. Please check on your loved ones, friends and neighbors, especially the elderly. Bring your pets inside, and when the temps do drop, leave faucets running at a trickle to help avoid freezing pipes. Figure out where the shutoff valves are now so in the event they do freeze/burst you won’t need an ark in your kitchen.”

Other posts though, seem to be just for fun. With the winter storm rolling in late Thursday and early Friday named “Hercules,” they took the opportunity to post a screenshot from an infamous scene in “The Nutty Professor.”

“Y’all are hilarious,” one Facebook user commented on a post.

“Who knew an emergency management organization could be this entertaining and informative at the same time!! Love it!!” another posted.

“Happy New Year OEM and thank you for your posts that kept me both informed and giggling in 2013,” read yet another comment. “Looking forward to your posts in 2014!”

The office could not be contacted Thursday for comment on their unique style, but posts continued throughout the day updating its effected citizens on the storm’s new forecasts and providing tips for weathering the predicted 4 to 8 inches of snow predicted in a late day forecast by the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

Additionally, the National Weather Service predicted roughly the same for the Pottstown area, with a chance of slightly less snow during the latter parts of the storm Friday.

Snow began falling steadily around 4:15 p.m. in Pottstown Thursday.

Many schools cancelled their after-school activities Thursday but held off on the decision of whether to cancel school as well Friday, just a day after students came back from winter break.

PennDOT, in a release decidedly less funny than the Phoenixville Office of Emergency Management, said they were treating the main roads they are responsible for with salt and plow routes designed to hit interstate and expressway roads every two or three hours.

“On lower-volume roadways, the department’s goal extends to every three or four hours, with less frequent cycles on roads with the lowest traffic volumes,” according to the PennDOT release.

It also cautioned that heavy snowfall over short periods of time are difficult to work on.

“Plow trucks will also be slowed when facing heavy precipitation or when many other vehicles are also on roadways,” the release said. “This means that during heavier storms, motorists may find deeper accumulations on less-traveled routes and should adjust their driving for these conditions.”

Early Thursday afternoon, Spring City Mayor Michael Weiss, declared a snow emergency which would last from 4 p.m. Thursday to midnight Friday to prepare for the rough conditions or, as the Phoenixville Office of Emergency Management termed it, a “#LegitSnowpocalypse.”

Follow Frank Otto on Twitter @fottojourno.

About the Author

Frank Otto is a general assignment reporter covering Phoenixville, Limerick and Spring-Ford schools in addition to features and spot news. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Otto moonlights with the sports department on occasion. Reach the author at fotto@pottsmerc.com
or follow Frank on Twitter: @fottojourno.